


Leafed Spears

by Matrix



Category: Original Work
Genre: Ansu, Fantasy, Gen, Maikros, Nonbinary Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 23:11:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14820719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Matrix/pseuds/Matrix
Summary: A girl comes of age and becomes not a girl.Written in 2014





	Leafed Spears

            Minefkashu took up the spear, and reflected on the sixteen years of her life.

\- - -

            Her earliest memory was of a hunting trip. It was late afternoon. Her five mothers had their arrows nocked as they stalked. The many-armed acacias presented their leaves to the Goddess of the Sky, Lefazop. Her mothers crouched in the grass under one. The mother she was following - the one who gave birth to her - directed her to look. It was a solitary antelope. It took scattered steps, looking around frantically. Minefkashu's birth mother blinked one red eye hard, and all her mothers shot. She watched the antelope run and trail blood as she jogged with them. When they caught the beast they finished it off with an arrow to the heart and praised Lefazop for such a perfect opportunity.

            Minefkashu didn't remember being very excited by that. At least she wasn't as bored as when she watched her father and brothers. She remembered her brothers running circles around the herd of large, hairy pigs while her father directed them. She never got why they needed to do that when they had built the mud-brick wall around it. When she got fed up with such boredom, she would gather up all her sisters and some sticks. Then she would have them all hide, then pop out when her brothers were out of the kraal, and attack. Her father didn't seem to mind such shenanigans. He even took to having his own sticks handy, which he would throw to the boys so that they could defend themselves and learn the art of the sword.

            Minefkashu hated watching the boys clean the house. She found it disgusting whenever they put a new coat of dung on the thatched roof. She didn't care how well it sealed the roof, it always stank inside. Her mothers would chide her and tell her to go be useful and pick berries, instead of complaining. Whenever she went to pick berries, she would get one of her sisters, Tlamim, to come along.

            She fondly remembered one such trip, when she was ten. Berry bushes were far from trees, as they were mutually exclusive. The Goddess of Rain, Uhrkania, did not often come to the savannah. Minefkashu liked picking berries because she got to wear her home clothes, all brightly coloured and patterned with reds, yellows, and white. Hunting required dull attire for blending in. She put her straight, black hair behind her ears as she foraged. Tlamim did the same.

            "Mini," said Tlamim, "guess what!"

            "Did the uplanders come and recruit all the village's men into the army and send them all to die in the southern jungles?"

            Tlamim stopped picking berries and slowly turned her head to Minefkashu and stared at her like the golden, eight-armed, block-headed, ruby-eyed, multi-faced statue of Zhal outside the carved stone Cathedral of Nokolzhan. Minefkashu had seen it in the previous year, on a visit to the western uplands staged by the village leader. The statue turned its stern face towards her. She thought the God of Truth was appraising her. She could hide nothing from him. She stared him down, appraising him back - he had, after all, bestowed his red truth-sight upon all of her people, the ansu. Then he threw a berry at her. No, wait, that wasn't right. She picked up Tlamim's berry out of the grass and ate it with a teasing smile.

            "Don't be ridiculous, Mini."

            "I'll be as ridiculous as I want, Tlami!"

            "Well, then you can show Edasnu how ridiculous you are!"

            "They're back?"

            "Just this morning, when you were out moping."

            "I was not moping! I was in deep thought."

            "Same thing, with you."

            "Well," said Minefkashu, brushing a bunch of berries and leaves into her basket all at once, "I'm gonna go see what amazing stories Edasnu has to tell. Three-two-one-race!" She was off, leaving Tlamim to yell and gesticulate wildly at her as she followed.

            Edasnu was the kmo, the leader of the village. It was, in fact, their village - they were married to all of its men and had organised its construction out of wood, mud, and straw. She didn't get to see Edasnu often, as they were usually off on what she assumed were adventures, but would later learn were usually political negotiations with the uplanders. The kmo had the appearance of a woman, but they were not one. They were with three men. Two were pale-skinned like her people. Their armour told her they were soldiers, so they obviously spent a lot of time outside. The third, between those two, was dark-skinned, which was what happened to an ansu when they stayed inside a lot. He had the robes and iconography of a priest of Zhal. Minefkashu tried to get Edasnu's attention, but they told her to wait. The priest was there to take one of her brothers away. She knew why - said brother had briefly blinded her with a flash of light from his stick during one of their battles in the previous month. The uplanders were insistent that mages join the clergy for, they said, magic was a gift of the gods. Minefkashu's father objected to the whole thing, but Edasnu reassured him in hushed tones, and he quieted and withdrew. The priest asked her brother which of the eight members of Zhal's Family he would study under. He was unsure. The priest said that was okay, because he would be given a lot of time to decide. He said that it was a big decision.

\- - -

            Minefkashu's reminiscing was interrupted by a sound. A rattling sound. She looked towards it. Then she felt an impact on her head, and pain. She ducked and turned around, thrusting her spear in the direction it came from. She hit something, and a cry came from there. The thing was blue, and it had a large head. It was relatively indistinct in the darkness, but she could tell what it basically was. A "lizard" with a wooden sword. It was actually just a man in a costume. She went on the offensive, thrusting her spear at the mask until it popped right off, and the man let himself fall to the ground in defeat. The rattle again, but she didn't turn to it this time, as another lizard-masked man charged her. She pointed her spear forward to defend against the charge, but then her spear moved out of the way - she looked back and saw yet another man holding it. She juked back, avoiding the slash of the charger and hitting the grabber in the head with the back of her spear. This caused him to let go, allowing Minefkashu to attack the head of the charger. A few thrusts, and his mask also came off. She made short work of the last one.

            She smiled as she picked up one of the masks. The men in the lizard costumes crawled out of the hut, groaning, and let her be. The mask was ornately carved, with large teeth and patterns of curved lines all over. It had small blue stones for eyes, and many notches from decades of spear impacts. Her first spear-hunt. The first where she held the spear, anyway. She had seen them before.

\- - -

            When Minefkashu was twelve, Edasnu elected to take her on a hunt. She accepted - because, of course, it was a great honour - but she was not very excited about the proposition.

            "May I take Tlamim along?"

            "I haven't selected her," said Edasnu. They stood tall in the slight breeze, spear in hand and supported on the ground. Not even their hair, coiled and braided as it was, wavered. Minefkashu said nothing and brought Tlamim anyway. It went as Minefkashu expected, at first. Edasnu's wives stalked with their bows, shot, and praised Lefazop. Edasnu was watching all of this, looking closely at each prey item. So far, they had dismissed all of them, allowing their wives the glory. Throughout all of this, Minefkashu talked with Tlamim quietly. Planning.

            They snuck off during one of the prayers, when the sun was starting to go down. They found a couple of sticks under an acacia and a herd of wild hairy pigs at a watering hole. They ran circles around the herd, yelling at and switching the pigs. The pigs were not amused and began to chase them away. They ran, but made sure to repeatedly come back and harass the pigs so that the herd would actually continue to follow them and not simply stop when they were sufficiently far away.

            This soon angered the herd well enough that the two girls could lead it to the wide-eyed hunting party, yelling madly. Arrows flew and Edasnu charged with their spear. Pig blood wet the dry grass all over. Minefkashu and Tlamim got out of the way of all this, but a male with large tusks followed them, charging. When they noticed, they had no time to jump out of the way.

            Tlamim jumped _towards it_. There was a loud crash. Minefkashu looked back and saw a golden, translucent wall in front of Tlamim, the pig on his side in front of it. She immediately knew what this meant, and grabbed Tlamim and ran. Tlamim soon started to run with her. However, Minefkashu looked back and saw Edasnu pierce two pigs at once on their spear. They turned to look at her, slowly. Once again, the gaze of Zhal. This time, she averted her eyes as they began to well up.

\- - -

            Minefkashu exited the hut with the lizard mask on. Outside, under the noon sun, before a crowd consisting of members of her age-grade from throughout her region of the savannah, she raised her spear. "I have vanquished the lizards and secured our freedom! Zhal, we have escaped the shadow of your foul brother Ashkozen, and return to you in the light!" A man dressed in golden-coloured robes and a golden-coloured mask with red stones for eyes danced around her. "Yarletix, by your name has this spear made righteous, victorious war!" Another masked man, this one armoured in red and wielding swords, joined the dance around her. "Lefazop! Under clear skies, our freedom shall be!" A masked woman in turquoise robes joined the dance. "Nasuatl, the lizards shall nevermore blight your lands!" A masked man in brown, carrying jars of dirt, joined the dance. "Harodu! Your winds howl in vengeance!" A masked man in white, whose robes were long and fluttered in the wake of his movements, joined the dance. "Uhrkania, we shall leave behind these deserts which have never seen your blessing!" A masked woman with little purple cloth covering not much of her body joined the dance. "Korri! This day, we stand united!" A masked woman in orange like the sunset joined the dance. The dancers made one more circuit around Minefkashu, until the eighth, empty spot was in front of her. Into this spot stepped Edasnu - even though masked, their imposing presence was obvious. They wore teal. Minefkashu continued her calling, "Shokona! Bless this day, and we shall celebrate it every year, regular as the tides!"

            Edasnu said, "This blessing shall be through you, great hero of freedom." They put their hands on Minefkashu's shoulders. "So great are you, that you shall be above men and women, free to act as either, both, or none. Minefkashu, I name you kmo." The crowd cheered.

            There was feasting and celebration throughout the day, as the rest of Minefkashu's age-grade graduated to adulthood. But although Minefkashu participated, their reverie was tinged with sadness.

            The very next day, they left the village with only the clothes on their back, a waterskin, and their spear. They headed west and north, towards the uplands. For food, they hunted with their spear and picked berries. For shelter, acacias. This lasted for days. They headed towards the capitol, Nokolzhan. It was the largest city in Shorrag, so there were many people coming and going. The land it was situated in was surrounded by orchards and vegetable farms. The city was made of stone. The walls had many octagrams - windows, and painted gold and red carvings around those, surrounded by more intricate designs. Minefkashu passed through the large gate, spear pointed up, with its tip covered by leaves. At once, past the crowds of city-folk, they saw it in the distance. It was the centre of the city. The Cathedral of Nokolzhan. In front of it stood that statue of Zhal, the eight other gods in his eight hands. They ignored everyone on the street, forcing their way past any obstruction, never speaking - even when yelled at - and walked directly towards the Cathedral, never once averting their gaze from Zhal.

            They walked under him, through his legs, to enter the Cathedral. They were greeted by an old priestess, asked if there was any religious service they needed.

            "No. I am looking for someone. Her name is Tlamim."

            "Does she work here, then?"

            "I think she is still training."

            "Ah. Then I don't know if you will be able to see her. She may be busy with her studies."

            "I did not come all the way here to be denied. I want to see my sister."

            The old priestess closed her eyes and nodded slightly, smiling. "I see. Korri has brought you here. I will help you as best I can."

            The old priestess led Minefkashu around, asking people, and eventually, heard with conviction from another student that Tlamim was in the courtyard garden. Minefkashu thanked the old priestess and went there. The garden was very green. Greener than Minefkashu had ever seen before. There were also vibrant reds, yellows, purples - every colour save blue. Tlamim was sitting on a stone bench beside a man, speaking with him. She had been browned by her time at the Cathedral, and her robes bore the iconography of Lefazop.

            "Tlami," said Minefkashu.

            Tlamim turned to her nickname and froze, eyes wide and mouth open. Then her mouth became as the crescent moon on a clear night sky, and she immediately jumped off the bench and hugged Minefkashu. They hugged back.

            Tlamim regarded their spear. "I knew it! I told you I knew what Edasnu was planning for you!" She sighed. "Too bad I wasn't there to see it."

            Minefkashu, smiling, decided not to dwell on that. "So, Lefazop, eh?"

            "Yes! I haven't forgotten our ways. I go out and hunt when I get the chance, though the game isn't so great up here. Oh! And Kadhan is training to be a priest of-"

            The man cleared his throat. "Excuse me."

            "Oh! Where are my manners? Mini, this is Pulu Koreliu, a junior ambassador from Igion. Pulu, this is Minefkashu, my sist- I mean, kmo sibling."

            Minefkashu looked at Pulu. His eyes were green, and his hair was golden and wavy. They stared at him incredulously.

            Pulu seemed discouraged by their gaze. "What is... uh.."

            Tlamim lightly smacked Minefkashu's shoulder. "Stop that, Mini!" She turned to Pulu. "Sorry, I think this is the first time sh- they've ever seen a human."

            "A what?" said Minefkashu.

            "Does news really take so long to reach home?"

            "What?"

            Tlamim rolled her eyes. "There are lands across the oceans. Humans live on them."

            "But," said Minefkashu, "Shokona is endless, are they not? There is no 'across' the ocean."

            "According to the map of the world that Pulu's people have, there is."

            "I think it'd be better to trust Zhal's Family rather than some weird foreigner. Aren't you supposed to be in clerical training, Tlami?"

            Tlamim rolled her eyes harder and patted Minefkashu's back. "Oh, Mini. You have a lot to learn. Why don't I start by showing you around town! Would you mind joining us, Pulu?"

            "Not at all, Tlami."

            "Hey!" said Minefkashu, pointing her spear at Pulu, "Only I get to call her that."

            Tlamim shook her head in her palm and grabbed Minefkashu's spear with her other hand. She put the spear back upright.

            "Well," said Pulu, "I see that your description of the behaviour of kmo was spot-on."

            "Yeaaaaaah... Keep your spear up and leafed, Mini. I would appreciate it if you didn't impale my friends. Or anybody, for that matter. Now, come on! I'm getting hungry, so I think I'll show you my favourite restaurant, first!"

            "But," said Minefkashu, deflated, "What about home?"

            "I miss it. But I'd miss Nokolzhan, too. Now, are you going to come with me, or just stand there and sulk all day?"

            Minefkashu decided to follow Tlamim's lead, for once.


End file.
